Crypto payouts
Beta

Learn how to enable crypto payouts on your platform.

Crypto payouts enable your platform to pay sellers, freelancers, creators, and service providers in crypto, starting with USDC. Paying in crypto helps you differentiate your platform, reach more users, and pay out faster than fiat. Best of all, you can use crypto payouts with your existing integration and avoid managing crypto yourself: your platform’s funds can remain in fiat and Stripe will handle converting to and paying out in crypto.

Access to Crypto payouts is currently limited to beta users. If you’re interested in trying it out, please fill out the interest form and select “Accepting and paying out in crypto”.

Supported countries

Crypto payouts enable platforms in the US to pay out to Express and Custom connected accounts in the following countries:

Prerequisites

Activated US Platform: Your Platform must be in the US and activated. You can activate it by registering your platform, activating your account, and completing the platform profile. (Note: Crypto payouts aren’t currently available in New York or Hawaii.)
Individual recipients: Recipients paid in crypto must be individuals or sole proprietors. Paying companies and non-profits in crypto is not currently supported.
Express account type: To pay an individual in crypto, you need to create an Express account for them and give them access to the Express dashboard. This dashboard is where they can link a crypto wallet and choose their preferred currency.
Pay with the Transfers API: You must use the Transfers API within your integration to pay in crypto. Transfers to Express accounts with linked crypto wallets are converted from fiat to USDC, enabling you to pay in USDC while your platform balance stays in fiat. If you have not yet built an integration, you can choose to pay in crypto via a no-code or programmatic integration.

Paying out in crypto with Connect

Sellers, freelancers, content creators, and service providers around the world are increasingly looking to be paid directly in crypto. Being paid in crypto helps them access international platforms that otherwise could not support them, or because they regularly use crypto and often convert funds from fiat. With crypto payouts, you can now support these users without writing a single line of code.

How it works

When you opt in to crypto payouts and provide your users access to the Express Dashboard, your users can link a crypto wallet with their account and set their default currency as USDC. Your users can link a crypto wallet when they’re first onboarded, or at any point using the Express Dashboard.

When a user links a crypto wallet, they immediately see a new USDC balance on their Express account. The USDC balance works like any other local currency balance. You can Transfer funds into the balance and the funds are paid out to their linked crypto wallet instead of their bank account. To make the integration even easier, you can specify Transfers in USD and it automatically converts to the preferred currency of your recipients – enabling you to have a unified integration across fiat and crypto payouts.

Users can view account information, such as their crypto account balance and upcoming payouts, using the Express Dashboard just like when they use a bank account. Also, Stripe will continue to handle all compliance requirements and generate tax forms for recipients paid in crypto.

Getting started

After you confirm that your platform meets all of the prerequisites above, you must enable crypto payouts for your Express accounts within the Express settings page. After you enable crypto payouts, your users can link a crypto wallet for payouts and set USDC as their preferred currency. Transfers to any user with a default currency set to USDC are automatically converted to and paid out in USDC to their crypto wallet.